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Tag Archives: Jennifer Aniston

The terrific TBS promo for We’re the Millers had a lot to do with my desire to see the film. This promo does not exist anywhere on the internet, that I can find, other than the fragment pasted below — and that’s a shame. TBS should be proud of its promos. I do have a small problem with it — there is no girl playing a saxophone on the beach in the movie. There’s not even a beach. The musical backdrop, indeed, has no relation to the film at all — which technically amounts to perjury. However, I certainly can’t ding a movie based on a television network’s independent ad campaign for it.

We’re the Millers falls in the sub-50% zone on Rotten Tomatoes. One critic wrote that “The filmmakers lack the courage of their convictions.” Maybe so — but I know that going in. Put another way, I judge a movie on what it is, not on what it isn’t. I’m not expecting high art or tense edginess. I’m expecting Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston in a fairly mindless comedy.

And it works on that level. There’s something likable about these characters, and this story — raunchy and banal as it often is. It comes nowhere close to comparable films Vacation or Due Date, but for what it is, it succeeds — barely. 6/10

After seeing snippets here and there many times, and hearing about it in conversation on a number of occasions, I finally watched in its entirety Office Space. Certainly it’s an iconic film, even borderline essential — but that doesn’t mean it’s great. The production values leave something to be desired, and purely as comedy it does not measure up to the best Apatow productions. Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune characterized it as: “Drably shot, unimaginatively written and shallowly acted.”

Still, I recommend Office Space for its classic if rough-hewn content. Despite its flaws, it musters up a few good laughs, and it’ll keep you in the know next time it comes up at the water cooler. 6/10

Availability: iTunes. Comparison Notes: Any episode of The Office featuring Steve Carell (don’t bother with post-Steve Carell episodes) is ten times funnier than Office Space. And, for a much better Mike Judge production, you may visit my post on Beavis and Butt-Head Do America.